More about the Chinese Lion
Text Source: Don Gee
Photo: Chet Braun
Po Tse or “Throwing Lion (Head)” is usually done for the dramatic exchange of positions of the person manipulating the head with the person working the tail. Demonstrating in the photo to the left are Don Gee in front, seconds after throwing the head, and Chris Louie, about to catch it just before changing places with Don.
Throwing Lion is done in conjunction with specific musical beats: preparation for the move is done to the 3-Star beat, tossing and catching the head to the 7-Star beat. Don explains that this type of exchange is done early in the performance, when both parties still have enough energy to toss the head and work the head after catching it.
The lion head can weigh as much as 35 pounds. Don says, “I don’t remember the grading system, but I think we were using a number 2 head, 25 pounds [in the photo]. Actually, it really doesn’t take much strength to toss it, if you’re not tired. It’s more in the timing and the coordinated use of the energy generated from the knees through the body and the arms.”
According to Don, “The heads that most people buy are from Fut Shan (Buddha Mountain) in Guangdong Province and run about $500 US. But Don notes, “These last only a few performances, especially with our Hung Gar style of kung-fu, since we do a lot of short power with the hip rotation to manipulate the head.” Don says the best heads are currently made in Hong Kong or Malaysia. Hong Kong heads are usually custom made and include performers’ trousers designed to match the tail. They usually run about $1,000 US. The ones from Malaysia are about $800, and they come in two styles. The first is the Fut Shan style, like the one seen in the photo, and the second is the Hok San style, which has a protruding nose and mouth, looking more like a duck bill. The second style is supposedly easier to manipulate, since the arms can stretch out in the head and are not as cramped as with the Fut Shan style head.”
Hung Gar Style
Don and Chris perform as part of the lion team sponsored by the Wing Lam Kung-Fu School, Sunnyvale, CA. This team represents the Hung Gar style of kung-fu.
According to Don, the Hung Gar style is generally considered as the most unchanged of the Southern Shaolin styles that came out of the Southern Shaolin Monastary near Quanzhou, Fujian Province. It is named after Hung Hsi Guan, a revolutionary during the Ching Dynasty who studied at the Southern Shaolin Temple as a Buddhist layman, and was propagated by the Hung Society, a group of revolutionaries whose motto was: “Down with the Ching, Restore the Ming.“
The most famous Hung Gar practictioner was Wong (Huang) Fei Hung, a Hung Gar master towards the end of the Ching Dynasty, who is known for creating the “Tiger-Crane Fist Set” and for his “Mo Ying Gerk” or “Invisible Kick” technique. His father, Wong Kei Ying was one of the “Ten Tigers of Canton,” and in
some references, Wong Fei Hung was considered one of the “Young Ten Tigers
of Canton.” He was also known as (famous kung-fu masters) a compassionate and righteous individual and figures as the main character in many Chinese kung-fu movies today.
“Wong Fei Hung is considered my great-great-great-grandteacher and was about five or six generations removed from the first non-monk to teach Southern Shaolin techniques,“ says Don. Wong Fei Hung learned from his father Wong Kei Ying, his father’s classmate, and Don believes, possibly from a Shaolin monk. “Three of our weaponless forms (Subduing Tiger, Five Animals and Iron Wire) are considered directly from the temple,”, Don explains, “and one of the weapon forms (Butterfly Knives) was passed down to the Hung Gar style by a famous martial artist, an expert at the Chinese double broadsword, turned Shaolin monk.” This history was documented in books authored by Lam (Lum) Tsai Wing, Wong Fei Hung’s disciple, in the years near the founding of the Republic, circa 1916. Lam Tsai Wing was the first in modern times to write books on martial arts techniques that did not involve weapons. The three books were: Gung Gee Fook Fu Kuen (Gung character/“I” Pattern Subduing Tiger Fist Set - Practice long enough, one should have the strength to subdue a tiger); Fu Hok Seurng Ying Kuen (Tiger-Crane “paired images” Fist Set); and Tit Sin Kuen (Iron Wire/Thread Fist Set - an internal training form).
The Hung Gar style was practiced mainly in the Guangdong, or Canton, Province, south of Fujian and spread by the Cantonese people, via Hong Kong, to the United States and Canada, and even to Mexico and Europe.
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